Signal device.



PATENTED JULY 7, 1908.

J. W. ATLEE.

SIGNAL DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 11. 1906.

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JOSHUA W. ATLEE, OF RIVERTON, NEW JERSEY.

SIGNAL DE VICE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 7, 1908.

Application filed. January 11, 1906. Serial No. 295,525.

, To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSHUA citizen of the United States, and residing atRiverton, State of N ew' Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Imrovements in Signal Devices, of which the ollowm is a full, clear, andcomplete disclosure.

lVIy invention relates to nautical signal devices, and particularly tothat class of the same which are used It is well known that passingvessels are accustomed, on approaching each other, to

low one or two blasts of their respective whistles, to indicatewhether'they Wlll pass on the port orstarboard side. are supposedlydetected by their sound, but as a matter of fact they are more oftendetected especially in stormy weather by a jet of steam which escapesfrom the whistle during the period of the blast. Thusthe pilot'or otherperson in the ilot house may utilize his sense of vision a one ortogethe with his sense of hearing to comprehendwhether there are one ormore blasts blown by the approaching vessel. On some occa sions,

or in darkness; conseque occasions, the. sound alone is the only evienceof the signal, thus rendering the sur sitating an alert watch to bekept.

The object of my invention is to remed this situation by providing asignal which can be rendered visible-at any time, and I accomplish thisobject by dis laying or flashing an elongated bar of lig tsimultaneously with the period of or during the blast of the whistle.

My invention consists of further details of construction and manner ofoperation, all of which will be pointed out in the followingspecification and the accompanying drawing in which like referencecharacters refer to corres onding parts.

In t e drawing, Figure 1 is a general outline of my invention, locatedon a fragmentary portion of a steamboat; Fig. 2 is a detail view of themechanism; Fig. 3 is a front view of the lamp casing, attached to afragmentary portion of the mast; Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken onlines 4-4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a transverse section of a modification ofmy amp casing, showing the reflector parabolic in cross section.

W. ATLEE, a an upon passing vessels. I

These blasts however, it is impossible to see a jet of steam at such adistance, especially in a fog nt during these circuit closer andoperating In the drawings, 1 represents the-hull of ordinary steamboat,raving a deck cabin 2 and a pilot house 3, the latter being shown incross section. A smoke stack 4 is shown projecting above the cabin and amost 5 in the rear of the pilot house. Adjacent to the front of thesmoke stack 4 is located the whistle 6, having a valve 7, which, whenopen to admit steam to the whistle, is resistedby the spring 8.Connected to the lower end of the valve 7 for the purpose of opening thesame is a cord 9, which passes forwardly through the rear wall of thepilot house between the anti-friction or guide rollers 13l3, and passingwardly runs over the pulley 10, and termi nates in the handle 11, whichis readily accessible or within easy reach of the person at the wheel.

Fastened to the mast 5 at an elevation above the to of the pilot houseis the lamp casing 18, tie interior mechanism of said casing being themodification shown in Fig. 3. This casing contains each the same as thatdisclosed in a row of incandescent bulbs, of which is arrangedlongitudinally of the casing, and is wired up independently through therear of the reflector 28 disclosed .in Fig. 1, in which the two wires27-27 are connected up with the two wires 19 and 20 shown in Fig. 1, thesaid wires being part of a circuit,- as will hereinafter be described.The wires 2727 pass through the tube 25 into'the bulb, and this tube isheld in position by being screwed into the block 26 and bolted thereto,as shown in Fig. 4.

Attached to the rear of the casing is a .stra or band 23 for fasteniiuthe same around the mast, smoke stack or any other suitable support. Thefront of the casing is inclosed by the usual lens 30. Should it bedesired to throw the rays of light parallel and in a wide flat beam,similar to that of the shaft of a search light, a reflector, parabolicin cross section, may be used, such as-shown in Fig. 5, in which 29 isthe reflector and 31 the lens, the other parts corresponding to those inFig. 4.

I have illustrated my device upon a steamboat, but it is obvious thatthe same may be used upon any type of vessel, the arrangement of thedifferent iarts being a matter of convenience. The liq 1t, however,should be placed in an elevated osition in the middle of the vessel, andal ioiu h it it: not necessary to have a series of amps or an elongatedcasing, yet an arrangement should be provided so that the eculiarcharacter or angle of the light is su -icient to identify it. Furthermeans of identification, however, may be utilized, such as coloredlights, various arrangements of which readily suggest themselves, as forinstance having every lamp of a color according to its position in therow. l

Having now described my invention, I will proceed to explain theoperation thereof.

When it is desired to signal an approaching vessel, the person in thepilot house pulls down on the whistle cord by grasping the handle LLThis pulls the cords 9 and 12 forwardly, thus opening the whistle valve7, causing the same to operate or blow. At the same time, the arm 14 ofthe switch-board is swung forwardly on its pivot 17, until it comes incontact with the button16. This closes the circuit, which runs asfollows:

From the ships generator, (not shown) in they hull of the vessel, upthrough the pilot house by means of the wire 19 into the lamps in thecasing 22, and out of the latter by means of the wire 20, switch-arm 14and wire 21, back into the ships generator. Normally, the switch-arm 14is in the position shown in, the

drawings, being held against any tendency to a forward swing bythe-spring 15. .Itis

obvious-that when the arm is in this position the circuit is open and nolight is produced,

thus when the bell cord handle 11 is pulled tle and so on, according toany established codeof signals, and a quick jerk of the bell cord downthe whistle commences to blow and an elon ated bar of light is producedsimultaneous y, and this condition remains the same until the bell cordis released and the cord 9 pulled rearwardly by the springs-8 and 15,thus shutting off, the whistle and opening a circuit which cuts off thelight. The same period of illumination can be produced in the amp asthose ordinarily produced by a whisas for instance one long and twoshort,

may cause the lamp to flash, that'is, to cause a sudden appearancefollowed by an imme-.

diate disappearance of light; Should there be any slack, back lash orstretch in the loose connection 9 between the handlell 'an'dthe whistle,this would not interfere at all with the substantiallysimultaneousflash- I ing of the light and sounding of the Whistle,

since the-handle 11' is always pulled or released with a quick motionthe switch will be thrown from one position to the other very rapidly,and any differences between the beginnings and the ends of the signalsgiven by the whistle and light respectively, would be in'a preciable. Itwill thus be seen that the fias 1es of light interpret. or make definitejust what sound was produced by the whistle,- when for this'or thatreason (a.

I the distance or'the direction of the wind a particular serve the ri orthesimultaneous blowing of another signal by another vessel) the soundof the whistle cannot be understood an observer, the

light supplements Ithe sound. by' conveying the same to the eye of theobserver; The duration of theflashes of light is simultane ous with theduration ofthe sound of the whistle and when the duration of theblast'of whistle varies, the duration of the flashes of light alsovaries. I I a I I have illustrated and described a lamp containingincandescent 'bulbs,.but itisob-- vious that any other character of.light can be utilized, such as an are light, mercury va or light wicklamps, etc, so long as the liglit produced consists of an elongatedv barof light, by which Imean a straight or curvedstreak orstripe or" bar oflight, whichpresents to the eye of the observer a different anddistinctive; appearance from the well-' known -unit-runnmg lights usedin navigation. v i

I have shown the lights adapted to'be dic layed upon the forward mast ofa steamlioat, but they may be located in' any other location on anyvessel, provided the same are in a position visible to approachingvessels. Throughout this specification. I have used nomenclature for thevarious parts for the t to utilize any of the equivalents thereo as longas the same are within the scope of my invention, as set forth in theaccompanyin claims.

' What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1 r

1'. In a signaling apparatus, the combination with means for reducing anelongated bar of light, of sound produeing means, and

means for displaying said light and oper ating'" said sound producing-means substantially simultaneously.

.2. In a nautical signal device, an. appar an I tus comprising means fordisplaying an 1n-,--

.clined bar of light, a sound producingapparatus and means fordisplaying said light and operating said sound producing apparatussubstantially simultaneously.

3.'I11-a nautical. signal; dev1ee, the combi- I nat on with a soundproducing apparatus, of

' a plurality of electric lamps arranged to present an elongated bar oflight and means for illuminating said lamps and for operating said soundproducing apparatus substantially simultaneously.

In Witness whereoi I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day ofJanuary, A. 1906.

' JOSHUA W. ATLEE.

, Witnesse's: 1 a Y ALsToN B. MoU ToN, ALEXANDER PARK.

